Drug debt campaign needs funding

A HIGHLY commended campaign to raise awareness of drug debt intimidation that was started in Dublin 15 is calling for funding so it can be rolled out nationwide.

The ‘Think Before You Buy’ initiative by local community policing forum, Safer Blanchardstown, aims to highlight the connection between recreational drug use and gangland activity.

Research published in 2016 for the CityWide Drugs Crisis Campaign analysed 140 drug debt intimidation reports and found mothers of drug users were the target for one-third of threats.

Over three quarters of people surveyed reported verbal intimidation, 46 per cent said incidents involved physical violence and 32 per cent reported damage to property or homes. The ‘Think Before You Buy’ campaign was created to warn recreational drug users and the public that illegal drug use often ends in fear, violence and even killings somewhere down the line.

The campaign has been lauded by community drug workers across the country and earlier this month PSNI officers, local councillors and community activists from Northern Ireland were in Dublin 15 to learn first-hand about the initiative.

The information meeting and informal discussion about its merits was organised after a PSNI officer learned about the campaign while on placement in Dublin and brought it back to the attention of his colleagues who wanted to know more.

“It was a productive meeting and they’ve gone back with loads of ideas, and they’ve given us a lot of new ideas too,” said Safer Blanchardstown Coordinator, Philip Jennings.

“It’s a great boost to have support from the north and it gives us the motivation to push harder down this end.”

Talks have taken place about an all Ireland launch but finding the necessary finance to spread the word is proving to be a problem.

“It needs a national campaign as no local group could do this on their own but we don’t have the funding to roll it out nationwide so we need Government support,” Jennings explained.

“We were talking to Government about funding before the last election, but everything came to a halt when the election was called.

“It’s been received very positively everywhere and we have the support of joint policing committees right across the country. Everybody is behind it. We just need the funding to get it going.”

A few campaign sessions have taken place with local students in Dublin 15 with positive results; with many youngsters saying it had changed their view on recreational drug use.

“There are young people who go out once or twice a week and maybe have a bag of hash or a bit of coke and get on with their lives and they don’t see the problem in that,” said Jennings. “They don’t make the connection that they’re actually feeding the criminal gangs and to put it starkly, buying a bag of hash could be buying a bullet for a gun that could be used to kill an innocent person.”